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The Ranger and the Hobbit  by Cairistiona 213 Review(s)
LexilooperReviewed Chapter: 6 on 1/23/2026
"I see smoke," Denlad said. He pointed upward, toward the crest of the hill.
"Let us pray that it comes from Aragorn’s fire and that he is sitting beside it having a quiet second breakfast with that hobbit we saw."
yessss actually

Denlad failed to see much hope of that. "All that noise we made, surely he would have heard. I doubt it is his fire, or if it is, that he is sitting quietly beside it, unharmed."
LOL Denlad <3 poor guy can't really imagine
okay unharmed, yeah, he is not

"Your optimism is overwhelming." Halbarad paused and turned around. "Can you not for a moment look on the bright side? Have your years at Aragorn’s side taught you nothing of hope?"
loll
aww <3

"Oh, hope I have in plenty. But I am also a realist. If Aragorn were up on that hill and whole, you know he would have flown to our side at the first clash of swords, which racket I’m sure was quite audible even from up there."
FAIR AND TRUE <33 awwww they know he fierce and flying loyalty
but that does not mean it is not his fire, or that he is not eating second (well, Ferdinand's second) breakfast
he did actually come staggering a couple steps in the direction

Halbarad stood silently for a long moment, by turns glaring at Denlad and staring up the hill. He finally sighed. "Why must you always be so infuriatingly right?"
LOLLLLLLLLLL well I think they're both right
I love his glares and stares <3333 he's so cute and fierce

He turned around and continued his march up the hillside. Denlad smiled faintly, but it soon faded. What he would give to be wrong in this case! But if Aragorn was indeed by that fire, and the trail they followed seemed to bear that out, he was obviously too injured to have come to their aid, and if that were the case, his condition must be dire indeed.
yesss
surprisingly not life-threatening, unless it gets infected
but still

He sped up and passed Halbarad, suddenly possessed by an urgency even beyond the fear that had hastened them to this point. "Hurry," he called over his shoulder, and he heard Halbarad’s steps increase their pace.
YESSS listening to his instincts <33 may well save Aragorn and Ferdinand's lives

It was not a tall hill, but like most of the hills in this barren land, its steep and forbidding front hid a long gradual slope behind it, and it was for that more easy ascent the trail led. And no surprise, that, for no man, let alone one injured, could easily climb the granite cliffs that soared upward from the valley. Ledges here and there provided tenuous homes for the few trees hardy enough to survive the harsh winds and poor soil. Denlad saw a goat creeping along one such shelf before they lost view of the cliffs.
mmm yes
GOAT <3

As they hurried on, he spotted a flattened place in the grass and paused. Aragorn had fallen again. Denlad looked back toward the hill’s summit, wondering again about the hobbit. He bent low, looking carefully all around the flattened spot and finally found what he sought: a second pair of footprints, unmistakably hobbit, that had approached via a narrow game trail barely visible through the bracken and grassy weeds. "Look here, Halbarad. It seems we did glimpse a hobbit up on that cliff top. And it looks as though he stopped to help Aragorn."
ooooooooooh YAY
ah I did not really picture Aragorn as already having been partway up the hill, but it makes sense

Halbarad hurried past, eyes on the ground. "They are walking side by side; but look! Aragorn’s feet are dragging, and the hobbit’s footprints are deeper here. I would guess the hobbit is all but carrying Aragorn at this point."
awww <333 dragging feet and carrying hobbit

"Are they so strong, hobbits?"
"I would not have guessed so, but it seems this one at least is."
yesss indeed

They kept on, following the trail, and came to another spot of flattened grass, and from there the grasses lay smashed flat in a long curving trail up the hill as far as he could see. He looked more closely, nearly putting his nose in the dirt, and found a few green fibers. He held them up. "Halbarad, I think he’s dragging Aragorn, using Aragorn’s cloak as a sort of sledge. But why would he drag him so far? Why not simply build a fire here?"
AWWWW YESSSSSSS
thank you for showing us this part of the story Aragorn missed <333
but please hurry, friends

"I think that this hobbit must know this area; perhaps he knows the grasses catch fire easily, and knows the summit is largely barren of vegetation. And, well, perhaps he has some knowledge of tactics and is heading for the highest ground."
yesssss

Denlad shook his head. What a wonder this Shireling must be!
he is indeed :))))

There was no longer a need for care, so they started running down the well-defined trail. They topped a slope that Denlad felt must surely be the summit. But he stopped, confused. "I thought this must be the top, but I do not see the smoke, nor the fire."
hmm
so they found a pretty good hiding place actually, but for the smoke, it's hard to spot them even after climbing most of the path

"There!" Halbarad pointed, and Denlad saw the problem. They had come up to the right of an outcropping of large grey boulders that blocked their path. He had thought them the crest of the hill, but now he remembered seeing them from below; they marked a spot just below the summit. He took a step to the side and finally spotted beyond them a grey-white finger of smoke reaching lazily upward, small against the blue vault above them.
mmmmm there <3

They hurried forward, this time Halbarad taking the lead. Denlad thought about calling out to Aragorn, but that same urgency that had driven him to greater speed seemed suddenly to caution him to greater stealth. He reached out and touched Halbarad’s sleeve. Halbarad immediately stopped and looked back.
ooooh YES keep following those instincts please <3

Denlad held a finger up to his lips, then motioned that he would go around the left side of the outcrop, where a scant trace of a game trail hugged the boulders above a sheer drop of at least fifty feet on its left. Halbarad shook his head and motioned instead to the less treacherous right side. He pointed to his own chest and then to the left side. Denlad pulled a face at him for taking the more hazardous route himself, but there was no time for arguing. He silently drew his sword and eased around the rocks, listening for any sound, looking for any movement that might signal something amiss. Seeing nothing, and hearing only the undisturbed soft buzz of small insects, he eased out from the rocks into a clearing. An untended fire burned in the middle of it. Halbarad came around from the other side of the rock. "Well?" Denlad asked.
SKASKFDSH THEY WOULD ARGUE OVER THAT <333

"Nothing. I saw no one."
Oh dear oh dear
yup there's the fire
and yet they're GONE

Denlad frowned as he sheathed his sword. "This makes little sense."
indeed

"An untended fire, a meal cooking... it would appear whoever was here was interrupted, very abruptly."
mmm yepppp

Indeed, a skillet of sausages and potatoes sat unattended on the fire. Denlad, out of long habit, reached down and pulled the pan out of the flames and set it to the side, then kicked dirt over the fire lest it spread, although as Halbarad had earlier surmised, the hilltop was largely barren of vegetation.
<33
also he is the one who's tolerable at cooking, right?

Halbarad squatted on his heels and looked at the scattered tracks. "These are hobbit, and those are Aragorn’s. But look at this!"
yessss
it makes me happy that he has friends who know him well enough to identify him just by shoeprint <3

"A second man," Denlad said as he looked where Halbarad pointed. He followed another track and it led to a bedroll, and a pack. A cup lay on its side in the stain of its spilled water. "Someone was drinking, not many minutes ago... and that is Aragorn’s pack, and his cloak," he said, then he froze. "And here is his sword."
SKJHDSGHJDG YESSS

Halbarad stared it, his eyes bleak. "He would go nowhere willingly without his sword."
ASKDGSDJFSHKGJSHDFJSG
eyes bleak
key word: WILLINGLY
this also is significant to them because, while I know his state, they do not, and now they know that it is such that another man managed to wrest him from his sword and force him away from it. No easy feat to not only defeat but control Aragorn. And that would be worrisome indeed to them.

"He reached for it... see that? A partial handprint near the sword... see his fingers?" He hesitated, then went on, "and that is part of a heel print. Halbarad, he reached for the sword and the man stamped on his hand."
skashgjdfhksg yes
I take great joy in them seeing each of his sufferings <3

"And then?"
Denlad frowned as he tried to make sense of the jumble of footprints in the dust. He finally shook his head. "I cannot tell. It might be that he hauled Aragorn to his feet and then..." He stopped in frustration. There were simply too many smudges and unclear prints for him to make anything out. Aragorn would be able to read the signs, he thought with bitter irony.
<:(( awwwwww he WOULD <3
anyone hostile hauling Aragorn to his feet or anywhere makes me happy for whump reasons
they cannot possibly have gone far though!! I am impressed they disappeared at all, and early enough Halbarad and Denlad did not hear the struggle, though I suppose it was brief and relatively quiet for lack of swordfighting

"This man’s tracks... it must be another Southron. They seem to be breeding like rats."
INDEED

"It very well could be," Denlad said absently, for a bush had suddenly claimed his attention. He touched Halbarad’s arm and gestured toward it. Its lower limbs were quivering as if in a light breeze.
There was no breeze this calm morning.
HEHEHEHE YESS

Denlad pulled his sword again and he and Halbarad moved swiftly toward the bush. Halbarad yanked the branches aside and, with a loud squawk, a small hobbit leaped out, grasping at the air to find his balance.
sksajdkg only him??? oh dear oh dear

Denlad swiftly lifted his sword away and grabbed one of the small flailing hands. "Easy, Shireling! You are among friends." He steadied the hobbit and led him to a log and seated him. He noticed a scrape and a large bump on the hobbit’s temple. "What has happened here, can you tell us?"
awww <3 poor guy, thank you for being gentle Denlad

The hobbit blinked a few times then covered his face with his hands. "I failed! I tried to stop him taking Strider but he was too big and strong. He threw me away like I was naught but a bit of trash."
sakjgs <:(( sounds just like a hobbit, not in a bad way
sounds like Sam actually :)

"Which way did they go, did you see?" Halbarad asked.
He pulled his hands away, but he still looked stricken. "No. I... I must have hit my head. Everything went grey and fuzzy and then I opened my eyes and saw the two of you."
<:((( noooo
like Bilbo hehe
SKSDHGK THE SOUTHRON MANAGED TO GO FARTHER THAN I THOUGHT even though we don't know if Ferdinand was out for seconds or minutes or what. I suppose it must have been longer than seconds.
ARAGORN IS BASICALLY KIDNAPPED, DRAGGED AWAY, I AM HAPPY LIFE IS FULFILLED XD
kidnapping fics are my favorite but it's not so much of a thing in Middle-earth, at least not relevant to Aragorn's life usually, so the closest thing I've seen is him getting tied up and tortured by blistering sun as punishment from some Southrons? I forget exactly the name of the place, for being from the North

Halbarad sighed, then started searching the perimeter of the camp for signs. Denlad pulled out his shirttail and used it to gently dab at the still-bleeding scrape. "Do not be so hard on yourself, Master Hobbit. It takes more courage than most men have to take on a Southron twice your height. What is your name?"
awwww thank you Denlad for taking this time to care for Ferdinand now and talk to him <3 and it may well be useful. Besides, all his generous care, I think he will appreciate someone taking a moment to now wipe away his blood
AND GREAT POINT HE LITERALLY TRIED TO ATTACK SOMEONE TWICE HIS HEIGHT and if that is not courageous and a quite selfless defense of his new friend I do not know what is

To give him credit, the hobbit gathered himself together and gave a small bow of his head. "Ferdinand Took, at your service."
<33 he is indeed hardy

"Well met, Ferdinand Took. I am Denlad, and I am at yours. And that man over there is Halbarad Dúnadan."
awwww yay. well met indeed <333 I love them they're so cute their polite but genuine words

"Strider said those were your names. We watched you from here, as you fought. Or at least I watched you. Strider couldn't see from his vantage point, so I told him what was happening."
awww relating them just hanging out together, if it could be called that <3

"How badly is Strider injured?"
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS this question makes me happy
now they get to hear a firsthand account. With a bonus of Aragorn not being there to downplay anything :)

"I found him yesterday, in the field below. He had a knife wound, and likely some broken ribs. He was nearly on his last leg when I found him;
yesssssss

indeed he really wasn’t on any legs at all really, having made it to a stand but that was as far as he got.
YESSSS :))

He lasted long enough to greet me, but then he sort of collapsed to his knees. I managed to help him sit down, but then he fainted dead away.
I like when he dead faints :))) "dead faint" is so much better than just "faint" because it implies a certain depth of injury or exhaustion and complete oblivion/unreachable unconsciousness :)

I got him to wake up a bit, and got him walking, but it wasn’t many more steps before he fell down again, and then nothing would wake him. I was that scared he would die, I am not ashamed to say. There was so much blood soaking his bandage; scared me silly, it did, and I’m not easily frightened.
we can tell you're not and I love that it did <3 I think he is hurt worse than even I have been giving him credit for, only seeing his perspective after all :)

I couldn’t imagine what had happened to him. He might have been cut nearly in two, for all I could see." He paused to take a deep breath, then continued. "I didn’t want to stay where we were; too open, you see. I didn’t know if whoever had done this was still lurking about. I saw he had a cloak, in his pack, and I took it and laid it out and sort of rolled him onto it and then grabbed the ends and started tugging. It took a while; he’s a big man, and you can see, I’m not big by any stretch of the imagination. But I had to get him up this hill, where I reckoned it would be safer for him to recover. But I guess I thought wrong. No one bothered us through the night, and so I didn’t reckon on there being another bandit, and especially not after seeing how you had taken care of those three down below."
ooooh yeah I forgot he wasn't already wearing his cloak

Halbarad returned to their side in time to hear this last. Concern creased his brow. "This man... how long ago did he take Strider?"
awww CONCERN <3

Ferdinand glanced at the sun. "It could only have been minutes. I was fixing second breakfast when we stopped to watch your fight. I managed to get Strider to eat a slice of bacon–he won’t eat, gets sick if he does and that worries me. Losing the blood he has, he needs to eat to get his strength back. I cannot imagine why he cannot eat."
LOLLL <3 imagine someone being so hurt they cannot eat! To be fair he did eat dinner (if only half) and then was sleeping nearly all the time in between. He only outright refused food when he first woke up. I do guess, though, that he hadn't eaten since before his wound, so besides that dinner it's been at least a day or two

Denlad smothered a smile at Ferdinand’s outraged expression. Woe betide any man who does not eat the food offered by a hobbit. "Ofttimes pain steals a man’s appetite. I have medicine I can give him that will help that."
LOLLL EXACTLY <333 woe betide any man XD
thank you for explanation <3

"Oh, good, very good." Ferdinand looked relieved, but then his face fell. "Only we don’t know where he is. Oh dear..."
aww
also I'm impressed at Ferdinand's healing skill when hobbits don't often get into trouble. I suppose they need stitches now and then though, and perhaps even a bandage or two.

Halbarad rested a hand on the hobbit’s shoulder. "Calm yourself. We will find him. I found their trail; it is clear and they are only minutes ahead of us, from the looks of it. We should be able to see them as soon as we round the summit." He gestured at the swelling on the side of Ferdinand’s head. "Will he be all right?"
<333 making sure he's okay before running after Aragorn, they're so thoughtful and honorable and I love

"I think so," Denlad said. "He will have a headache, but he seems relatively unharmed. His name is Ferdinand Took, by the way."
<33

"I regret we must leave you so soon after meeting, Master Took, but time is short," Halbarad said. He pulled off his pack and set it beside Aragorn’s. "But we will be back, as soon as we find our friend."
aww YAY party together then

"I will keep the fire going."
Denlad felt himself blush. "I’m sorry about kicking it out. I thought no one was here."
<33

"No need apologizing; I can light it again easily enough." He dredged up a wobbly smile. "You saved my sausages from burning, at least."
<333 yayyy hehe

Denlad laughed. He liked these irrepressible hobbits. "Keep them warm for us. I’ve no doubt that Strider will be hungry when we bring him back."
SKAJKGDS YES I DO TOO <33 particularly ones like Ferdinand. There are some not so optimistic or generous or such things, although there are a good many very good ones

With a final look at Ferdinand’s scrape, finding it no longer bleeding, he stood and, after pulling off his own pack, save the healing supplies which he tucked under his belt, followed Halbarad, but Ferdinand suddenly called out, "Wait!"
the healing supplies <3 which will be needed. If Aragorn has been being dragged around or perhaps even forced to walk he must be in agony

Denlad stopped and turned.
"You should know–I think I heard the man say something about paying back blood for blood." Ferdinand’s blue eyes held unshed tears. "Please hurry. I... I have grown very fond of Strider, in the hours I have known him."
SKKSJKHGJSDH ooh this is good this is good
um I think he has already paid for with a LOT of blood, if this is the same reason the first Southron attacked him, or if he also is another friend of the first and it is that man's blood he is avenging (yes I do know he probably means life for life lol)
I also don't think I've seen someone before with a PERSONAL tergeted vendetta against Aragorn :)) (unless you count the grieving mother in At Hope's Edge but I do not, this is different)

Halbarad cast a worried gaze at Denlad, then inclined his head to Ferdinand. "He is one to whom one’s love–and allegiance–come easily. And I have been remiss in not thanking you for all you have done for our friend. Words cannot really express my gratitude."
AWWWWWWWWWWW SO TRUE he would know <33333

"Nor mine," Denlad added.
"Just bring him back here, alive, and that will be all the thanks I will ever need."
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW SKSAJHGSDKHDJSGK <333 a great big Aragorn fan club is all I needed, and not hard to gather <33 I so love when people love and appreciate him so deeply and easily

LexilooperReviewed Chapter: 5 on 1/23/2026
At Ferdinand’s cry, Aragorn grasped his side and pushed himself to his knees to try to move to a place where he could see the valley. "What do you see?" he gasped. The pain was barely tolerable, but as long as he held his hand against his wound, he could move. But getting to his feet was quite beyond him.
YESSSSSS now that he is in safety he can no longer push himself so

"Oh dear," Ferdinand cried again, his eyes never leaving the scene below. "Three men, foreign-looking, if you take my meaning. Not dressed at all like Northern Big Folk. Oh! Oh, yes, yes, very good! That will do nicely!"
oooh

Aragorn struggled to pull his feet underneath him and stand, but it was hopeless; he was simply too weak. "What? What happened?"
yesssssssssss
hehe his frustrated having to get information

Ferdinand jumped up, waving his arms about as though brandishing an invisible sword. "Oh very good! That’s the way! There’s one down, at any rate. That black-haired Ranger is a fierce fighter, isn’t he? Look at that sword flash! Hair streaming, fire in his eyes even from here... he quite looks like some sort of Elven warrior! Maybe he is an elf! And the blonde chap as well... oh, capital! Very good! Oh but... oh dear! Oh no! Look out behind you! Oh no!"
yessssssss
MAYBE HE IS AN ELF hehe

"What? What has happened? Tell me what you see!"
sadjkgjsjkd

"The blonde... oh no, he has him by the neck... Oh! Oh, you poor man! Oh, he can’t breathe! Oh, surely he can’t breathe ... oh dear ... oh my, oh my .... wait! Oh, I don’t think I can look..."
oh my gosh AGONIZING SUSPENSE and he can't even see any of this or judge whether he thinks Denlad will be okay
I feel so bad for Aragorn this must be worse than all the rest of his pain

"Ferdinand Took, you will open your eyes and tell me what is happening!" Aragorn growled, but when the hobbit merely continued breathlessly muttering oh no’s and oh dears, Aragorn gave up and tried again to stand. He pulled one foot under him and then the other and shuffled forward but a scant two paces before spots broke out before his eyes and his legs gave out. He fell back to his knees, bracing one arm on the ground to keep from falling on his face as he clutched his side with the other. Ferdinand still hopped from foot to foot, uttering cries of dismay and telling Aragorn absolutely nothing of help. If the situation had not been so dire, Aragorn might have laughed at the absurdity of it all. "Ferdinand, please!" he begged.
SKAKGHSKJS STRUGGLING TO HIS FEET TO SEE
AND FALLING STRAIGHTAWAY
bracing his arm to keep from the pain of fully hitting the ground

Ferdinand suddenly leapt straight into the air. "Oh! Oh! He stabbed him in the stomach!"
"Who stabbed who in the stomach?"
SKASJD

"Your blonde friend! Oh my! Oh dear!"
"Denlad was stabbed?"
OH MY GOSH HE'S MAKING THINGS WORSE

"No, no, no," Ferdinand cried impatiently. "Denlad did the stabbing." He stared hard, suddenly silent, then finally nodded as if in satisfaction. "Yes, yes. That appears to have done it for him. Very good. All appears well in hand now, thank goodness. Two brigands look to be dead and the one Denlad stabbed is on the ground, close to it from all appearances. It looks as though they are questioning him. Oh, that cheeky rascal! I believe he just spat at your Denlad. After he was the one who attacked. I ask you! It’s just too much."
yessss

He turned to glance briefly at Aragorn. "Here now! Get you back to bed!
THANK YOU for noticing now

Or at least to your bedroll, seeing as we hardly have proper furniture out here in the wilds. But back to it, proper or not, young man! Could you not satisfy yourself with what I told you? No, I suppose not. Have to see for yourself, don’t you, like all stubborn Men, Elves, Hobbits and Dwarves. Can’t be satisfied with being told the facts, no. Have to leap to your feet and injure yourself further in the name of satisfying your curiousity when all you had to do was listen to what I told you."
lolll uh well
you weren't doing a great job of commentary

Aragorn opened his mouth to protest, then shut it without saying anything. There was little point. He meekly submitted to Ferdinand’s fussing and, hauling himself shakily back to his feet,
whoa impressive
even with Ferdinand's support
lol thank you for submitting this time Aragorn <3 the fight is over, no reason in fighting the care now

let the small hobbit help him back to his spot by the rock. He waved off Ferdinand’s demand that he lay flat, however. Seeing how hard it was to get to a seated position, he preferred to stay that way for the time being. It seemed to hurt the same, either way, and he would as soon be sitting upright when Denlad and Halbarad arrived; otherwise he was sure to raise such alarm in the two that he would never be able to convince them that his death was hardly at hand.
LOL okay that's very fair and true. He doesn't want to frighten them or spend energy convincing them. I feel like when he does lay down though he will find there is some relief compared to sitting

"Let me see that wound now." Like earlier, he peeled back the bandage just enough to check. This time Aragorn noticed that Ferdinand had somehow applied the bandage so that the entire thing need not be unwound to expose the wound, but only a few layers in front. He made a note to have Ferdinand show him how he managed such a clever arrangement. Ferdinand peered closely at the stitches, clucking a bit like a hen fussing over her chicks. "Good, the stitches are still intact. Does it hurt, much?"
ooooh cool

Aragorn nodded. "But nothing I cannot bear."
hmm a low bar
what does "cannot bear" mean, anyways? screaming? passing out? in any case it is still pain felt and even if it seems beyond bearing, without medicine it is there and must be borne one way or another
also he actually nodded, good

"Hmm, I am not sure whether to believe you. I can all but hear your teeth grinding against one another."
YESSSSSS HA

Aragorn breathed a laugh. He supposed he did have his jaw clenched rather tightly. He forced himself to relax. "Your ears are too sharp."

"And my eyes still sharper, and they see a face white and drawn with pain, so best you stop all this playacting at being brave."
THANK YOUUUUUU

"You would rather have me screaming and writhing, then?"
SO HE ADMITS HE FEELS LIKE IT

"The screaming I can do without. Up to you whether you want to writhe or not. It seems to me that would be quite painful, though, so best you be still, I think."
LOL i love him

"I think, too," Aragorn agreed, and did his best to do just that. Simply breathing was bad enough. Writhing was out of the question.
lollllllllll so fair

Ferdinand replaced the bandage, then gave him a fatherly pat on the shoulder, an incongruous gesture coming from such a small person and one so much younger than himself. Then Ferdinand laid a hand on his forehead. "Still no fever. Very good, that, but are you sure you do not want to lie down? You look so pale, and there are great dark smudges under your eyes." He chuckled. "Your friends will think I punched you."
yesss

Aragorn laughed, then winced. "Pray do not make me laugh, Master Took."
HEHE

"Then be a good patient and lay down, if you’re not interested in eating."
"I might try a bit of that bacon," Aragorn offered.
hmmm good luck and I hope you're not (actually hope you are) doing it just to appease him

"Ah, there’s the spirit!" Ferdinand cried, then bustled to the fire and stirred it up. He poked at the contents of the skillet and fished out a strip of bacon and put it on a plate. He eyed it dubiously. "It does not seem enough. Are you sure you don’t want some sausage as well?"
lolll it would seem skimpy to a hobbit, but no.

"Just the bacon, thank you."
<3

Ferdinand shrugged and handed him the plate, putting it on his lap as he had the one last night. "There you are. Perhaps it will whet your appetite for more. You need to eat."
okay wait I just realized he's also carrying around full-on dishes XD

Aragorn bit off a small bite and chewed. It did taste good, but he knew it was best to wait to see how it settled on his stomach before trying more.
mm yes

Ferdinand came back with a cup. "Water. You’ll need it, eating all that salty bacon. And I don’t think you should drink any more of that ginger tea. I sipped it and it’s horrid. I don’t know how you stood it."
LOL advising him based on taste

"I don’t normally make it quite so strong," Aragorn said as he took the cup of water with a grateful nod. He was terribly thirsty, now that he thought on it. Blood loss, he supposed.
lollll fair
nice, he has lost a lot :)

"Well, your friends will no doubt soon be here. They will surely be hungry after such a fight." Aragorn thought he seemed quite calm, considering he had just watched several men kill and be killed. Hobbits do seem resilient, he thought as he watched Ferdinand pull food–more sausage and more potatoes and an onion–from his seemingly bottomless pack. He quickly peeled and sliced the vegetables with small but capable hands. Was there nothing this hobbit was not skilled at, Aragorn wondered as he worked at his bacon.
LOLL YES THEY ARE RESILIENT I love Ferdinand lol. Yesss bottomless pack
ALL THE SKILLS
I love how he's reduced to eating a single piece of bacon is work :)

"Do your friends like sausages and potatoes?" Ferdinand suddenly asked.
DO THEY

"In general, we eat anything that doesn’t eat us first."
Ferdinand let out a merry laugh. "Oh, I do like you, young man. Such a wit you possess!"
LOLLL uh well

"’Tis not wit so much as the truth," Aragorn smiled, then leaned his head back against the rock and closed his eyes. The sun’s touch warmed his face. It felt good.
precisely :)

"What do Rangers like you eat?" Ferdinand asked.
"Whatever we can hunt up, usually. Deer, if there’s several of us together, or if I’m alone, sometimes a brace of coneys. A pheasant. Whatever I catch in a snare. Handful of mushrooms and maybe some wild onions. Whatever berries might be ripe. I have been desperate enough at times to try snake."
mmm yep

"Snake! Horrid!"
lolll

"It is not as bad as you might think. But it’s poor pickings... not much meat on a snake."
"Well, if I never have to eat snake, I’ll consider my life very well blessed indeed."
awww I love him. He now considers not eating snake a great blessing, instead of eating it a great cursing :)

"I have had worse."
"Such as?"
He opened his eyes and took a sip of water. "One time, in my travels, I was invited to a nobleman’s banquet. He served me breaded eyeballs. Sheep, I believe, but I was never quite certain."*
LOL EEP
and...the chick in the egg that one time

"Oh, now, surely not! Who would eat that?"
"People in the lands east of Khand, apparently."
"East of... you’ve been that far?"
heheheeeee

"Hmm," Aragorn said, setting aside the cup and closing his eyes again. "They call me Strider for good reason."
as Ferdinand would, he too uses his long legs for striding across middle-earth :))

"I should say so," Ferdinand said rather faintly. Aragorn opened one eye a slit and chuckled at the dumbfounded expression on the hobbit’s face. You are not the only one full of surprises, Master Took. The things I could tell you...
yessss I love people catching a glimpse of how cool he is, how much he's seen

But of course, he could not. It would hardly do to start bragging about his royal lineage, not with the chances of his ever becoming king seeming to hover somewhere below his chances of taking flight by flapping his arms and cawing like a crow.
skajdsfkgh <:(((

Although sometimes it would be nice, not to have secrets. Not to have to play at subterfuge and evasion. To actually have people look at him and not scurry away in fear and suspicion.
SAKDSFJGKDHFDD <:( again, the thing he told Frodo, about wearying of suspicion and secrecy

He started to sigh, but remembered his wound just in time and instead let the sun’s warmth entice his mind away from such dark paths. Within moments, most conscious thought dribbled away as sleep crept over his mind. He listened to the small sounds Ferdinand made, and his mind, even half asleep, categorized the myriad insect and bird noises... that was a wren... and there was a cricket... and that little rustling is likely a field mouse....
yess cannot even sigh :)
aww filing the noises <3 I would love to one day know a quarter the things he does

A louder rustle roused him a bit.
ooooh yay

"I expect that must be your friends drawing nigh," Ferdinand said.
YAY

Aragorn nodded but was too tired to open his eyes. Halbarad would just have to find him asleep... sorry to let Halbarad think him dead... waking was just too much bother...
LOLLL from "Can't be bothered to lay down for fear he thinks me dead" to "can't be bothered to stay awake he can think me dead instead"

But then Ferdinand let out a loud squawk. Aragorn’s eyes flew open and he was lunging for his sword even before fully realizing a Southron was emerging from the bushes. His fist closed around the hilt, but before he could grasp it, a heavy boot smashed down on his hand.
SKSSFHGJKDFKD HEHEHEHEE
I kind of hoped but was not really expecting the Aragorn-getting-hurt adventure to continue a little longer :))))
SMASHING ON HIS HAND
did that break some bones...surely a terrible bruise at the least
I love his instincts to grab his sword overriding even the processing of pain signals
ALSO WHAT IS IT WITH THESE GUYS THEY WON'T STOP APPEARING ;_;
good thing he was sitting up actually
I don't know if it'll actually help much but he would have been really quite helpless laying down. He can't move that fast, and trying to sit up that fast would've relied on muscles that literally are not working right now

HA SO HE IS REFERRING TO THAT TIME
AND FIGURED OUT WHAT IT WAS HAHA

LexilooperReviewed Chapter: 4 on 1/22/2026
Halbarad dropped to one knee and looked at a large bloodstain, larger than any they had yet encountered. "He fell here, as well." He sighed heavily as he looked toward the north. "How much farther did you go, Aragorn?" he whispered.
SKAJSGKHDFSH love them tracking each time he fell in his pain :)
THE WHISPER

Denlad examined the ground for twenty paces all around the tracks. "No other tracks. In that, at least, it seems luck is with us."
"I am not sure that brings me any comfort," Halbarad said. "I have had the feeling, for some hours now, that we are being watched."
ooooh <:( I fear you are right

Denlad looked at the seemingly empty lands. There were endless places for a man to hide; certainly not a lot of woodland, but there were small copses of trees along springs and streams, thick patches of gorse, even slight swells and dips in the land itself. "I can’t say with certainty that no one else is tracking us, true. But if they are, they must be well behind us and not worth worrying about. Finding Aragorn must take precedence over who might be on our back trail."
hmmmm

"Still, keep your eyes moving on more than just Aragorn’s tracks. We will be no help to Aragorn if we let ourselves be waylaid from behind. I do not like the feel of this."
skjasdhsk yes please watch

Denlad nodded, and they moved off again, almost running, for it seemed as though Aragorn was making straight for the Weather Hills, away from any dangers that might lurk along the Great East Road. There were caves there, Denlad knew, caves where an injured man might find safety to light a fire and tend to his wounds. He swallowed hard. Or to crawl into to die.
<:(((

They hurried on. The land here, though well past the Midgewater Marshes, was still by turns marshy and dry, broken by outcroppings of rock and small thickets of scrubby trees. To the southeast behind them, visible on the horizon yet still some leagues away, was the hill called Weathertop, that in past ages held the Watchtower of Amon Sûl. Denlad momentarily looked back at the ruined contours of its top, at the jagged stones that were the only remnants of the great tower that marked the site where King Argeleb the First was slain, and that once held a palantír, a seeing stone through which Elendil watched for Gil-Galad. So many great and often terrible tales surrounded that hill. He did not wish for Aragorn to add his own tragic end to its history.
<:((((

He turned his eyes back to the path before him, wishing desperately he had his own watchtower to climb, to look over the land around them and find in its vastness one man, wounded, alone.
awwwwww yes
alone no longer <3

Another place of flattened grass and dark-stained ground. Denlad ran his finger along a hand print. He placed his own hand in the depression. His hands were larger than Aragorn’s, but it was not the difference in size that gave Denlad the need to curl his fingers deep into the drying mud to match the mark. He looked up at Halbarad. "He must be in great pain. This mark was made by his clenching fist."
skashgskhdkdsj yesssssss
seeing and appreciating in hindsight(?) his pain <3

Halbarad rested a hand on Denlad’s shoulder. "He is strong. See here? He regained his feet and continued on. Try not to let fear take your heart." He gave Denlad’s shoulder a slap and a slight shake to encourage him, then continued along the trail.
"he is strong" aww indeed

Denlad followed, but his thoughts strayed back to that hand print. It was not fear that he felt. Not exactly. It was... it was an almost overwhelming sense of compassion. He felt as though he need only concentrate and he would feel Aragorn’s pain in his own body. It was a feeling he had experienced before, many times, when he saw someone ill or wounded. Seeing such suffering gave him the feeling that he had been emptied out inside, drained of all that gave him strength and that unless he did something to help, he must surely wither and die himself. He told Aragorn once about it, and Aragorn told him that he had the heart of a healer. That may be, he supposed, but fate had decreed he wield a sword instead. Studying herblore and leechcraft seemed something ever beyond opportunity. But from that day, he had paid close attention to Aragorn any time he worked as a healer, and no greater satisfaction did he know than during those rare times when he was working alongside his Chieftain in the healing wards.
AWWWWWWWWW <:(((((
he just wansta be a healer but has been called a different path by necessity

He chased away his reverie. He could not afford to gather wool while such danger lurked around them. Still, there was no sign anywhere that he could see that enemies were near. He stopped again for a moment to look behind them, but the land stretched empty and quiet to the southern horizon.
yayyyy
eep

He spun about and hurried to catch up with Halbarad as the older man ran tirelessly ahead of him, running so fast that his hair whipped behind him like a banner. Halbarad wore his hair longer than most of the Dúnedain, more in the manner of the Elves. While that was not wholly uncommon among the Dúnedain, for they still held close friendship with the Elves and sometimes copied their ways, Denlad had to chuckle because he knew that admiration of the Firstborn was not the reason for Halbarad’s flowing locks. No, Halbarad wore his hair long because his wife liked it that way. Halbarad once grumbled to him, as he tried to untangle wind-driven snarls from it, that his wife had a ridiculous infatuation with Elladan, and so he had to suffer long hair for it. Denlad had started laughing, but his mirth died a quick death when Halbarad grabbed his dagger in one hand and a hank of Denlad’s blonde hair in the other and threatened to shave him bald. So fierce had been Halbarad’s anger that Denlad even volunteered to help Halbarad comb out the snarls, until Aragorn teased them both about looking like the monkeys in Harad, picking fleas off one another.
LOLLLLLLL <33

I suppose we did look a sight–
<333

A bird exploded from the gorse to his right, startling him out of his reverie. He watched it fly off, appalled that he would let his mind wander so to trivial things. Fatigue, fear... there were any number of reasons a man’s thoughts might skip to memories of safer times, but for a warrior, such lapses were not only inexcusable, but deadly.
oh dearrrr there they are

He tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword. He eyed the clump of bushes from whence the bird had taken such sudden flight. Was that movement within? He stared harder, but whatever caught his eye did not repeat itself. He studied the area around it, concentrating so fiercely that he nearly ran into Halbarad, who had suddenly slowed. "What is it?" Denlad asked, but the bushes still drew his gaze. Had there been a movement? Did I see something or was it we who startled the bird–
eeeeeee

"That hill yonder. I think I see something – there! A patch of blue!"
Denlad reluctantly turned his attention upward, squinting, and then saw it. Someone was up there, in the gorse, watching them. "It looks like a child. Or a hobbit."
"No hobbit would be out here."
hehe
YAY IT'S THEM

"Nor would there be children."
fair

"Let us head that way."
hmm

But before either of them could take a step, the bushes around them suddenly erupted. Three fierce-eyed men came at them, and Denlad only just pulled his sword in time to block the thrust of a dagger aimed his way by the tallest of the three, even as he cursed himself for not trusting his instincts and giving warning. He pushed the man’s blade up and then to the side and then drove a knee into the man’s groin. The man doubled over and found his death on the edge of Denlad’s steel.
yessss good job

Denlad turned away to find the other assailant but he was too slow. An iron-hard arm snaked around his neck and nearly jerked him off his feet. The man’s fist slammed against Denlad’s right wrist, but he kept his grip on his sword. Not that it helped him much, for the angle was too close to bring it round to bear. The man’s arm tightened against his throat, cutting off his air. He dug uselessly at the man’s arm with his free hand, but it was like trying to pry Caradhras from Arda.
nooooo

"Drop your weapon!" a harsh voice growled beside his ear.
In answer, Denlad abandoned tugging at the man’s arm. He dropped his sword, but then lifted his right leg and yanked a dagger from his boot. He drove it blindly backward and felt it sink into flesh, and the arm fell away from his neck. He whirled, but the man was on the ground, clutching his belly and out of the fight.
HAHAHAHA PULLING A DAGGER OUT OF HIS BOOT
like Aragorn keeps one there as well, at least in Imbecamiel's fic :)

Denlad kicked the man’s fallen blade out of reach then turned to see if Halbarad needed help. He did not. His opponent lay on the ground, lifeless.
yesssss

Denlad took a deep, shaking breath, massaging his bruised throat. "Are you harmed?" he rasped.
ouch

"No. You?"
Denlad shook his head. He turned to the man on the ground. "Who are you?"
yayyyyy
whump is great but I need them to take care of Aragorn <3

The man spat at him. Denlad jerked his head back but the spittle landed on his cheek. He wiped it away with the back of his hand and fought back the urge the lay his fist across the man’s face. He reached down instead and pulled at the man’s coat, opening it to reveal a jagged wound that went deep into the man’s lower abdomen. Although he had been the one to deliver it, he still winced, for such a wound promised only a slow and painful death. "You have a mortal wound. Far better for you to face death with a clear conscience. Who are you, and these men? Why did you attack us?"
aww yeah causing only harm must be hard for him

The man glared but remained silent. Denlad looked up at Halbarad with the smallest of shrugs.
"Leave him," Halbarad grunted. "If the wolves do not get him, he will eventually bleed to death or the wound will fester and he will die of fever."
lol the guy overhearing this like...

Denlad stood and followed Halbarad. Healing compassion he may have, but he seldom lavished it on those who tried to kill him. They had gone but three paces when the man cried out. "Wait!"
yes there we go

Denlad moved to the side and Halbarad walked back to the man. "Speak, and my comrade will give you medicine to help ease your pain."
mm yay

"We seek our brother."
"And what was your brother doing in these parts?"
"He is a trader. We are all... four of us traders."
Denlad wondered briefly at the man’s hesitation but dismissed it as due to pain. He let out a disbelieving snort. "An odd way to do business, ambushing your patrons to trade a knife in the back for their coin. This brother you speak of... is he garbed as you, in Southron raiment?"
uhhhhhhh yeah loll

"He is."
"Then he lies rotting not a league south," Halbarad told him. "He attacked our companion and paid for his folly with his life. But tell me, what business truly brings you to these parts and do not say ‘trading’ or I will carve out your eyes and leave you to die blinded to the last light of your evil days."
yess
Halbarad has not compassion for a bandit

The man said nothing. Halbarad sighed in disgust and stood. "I think you a spy and not a trader, but either way, I suppose it matters not, given the doom before you. We know our enemies, and thus you would tell us nothing new. I only hope you find whatever master you serve worthy of the reward you have received for your treacherous service. Give him your magic herbs, Denlad."
yay

Denlad dug into a pouch on his belt, one that, similar to the ones all Rangers carried, held the basic essentials of medicinal herbs. His pouch held a bit more medicine that Halbarad’s, for he had broader knowledge of herblore, thanks to Aragorn’s tutelage. He did not want to spare any for this wretch, for he feared Aragorn would need them more, but neither, he reluctantly admitted, could he leave the man to suffer.
he is good like that and Aragorn would have it no other way <33

He measured out enough to send the man into a deep sleep, one from which he would likely not awaken before death from the wound claimed him. He spied a waterskin on the man’s belt. He crushed the leaves in his hand, poured them into the skin and then shook it gently. "Take this all at once and you will fall into a sleep from which you will most likely not waken. Or sip it slowly and it will ease your pain as you lay awaiting death. It is your choice. Either way, you will likely pass from Arda’s circles before the sun reclaims day from night."
mmm yes
thank you Denlad <3

The man simply stared at him, his expression unreadable. Denlad shook his head at the stubborn foolishness of such men and turned away.
mmmm
does not know what to think, I suppose

Halbarad looked at the two bodies. "We cannot spare the time to bury your brothers, for we seek the one your brother injured. But if we return, we will see to it then. We are the Dúnedain of the North and we would see no man’s body, even an enemy’s, despoiled after his death."
<333 I love them

Again, the man spat at them. Halbarad stared at him sadly for a moment, then looked to Denlad. "We will move out."
<:(( saddened at how little he understands of compassion or honor that the Dunedain carry with them

They hurried up the hill, climbing in silence, but after a time, Denlad spoke. "Forgive me... I should have seen them. I sensed something was amiss in those bushes yet I did not give warning."
<:(

"Nothing to forgive. We were both distracted by that hobbit."
"But I should have spotted them."
"How, when they were traveling parallel to us, and apparently very canny in hiding? Do not take blame when there is none to take."
<3333 thank you Halbarad
how I love him

Denlad fell silent but then after a few more paces, spoke up again. "Tell me true, Halbarad. Would you have carved out his eyes?"
"Of course not! What do you take me for, one of them?"
LOL true, yeah I didn't really think so but wasn't quite sure

Denlad smiled faintly. He thought Halbarad had been bluffing, but he had seemed so convincing that he could not be sure. "I think those three were spies, as likely was the one Aragorn killed. That one I stabbed had me by the neck, his dagger poised for a killing stroke, yet instead of killing me, he told me to drop my weapon. He wanted information, not my coin."
hmmmm interesting, good point.

"It does seem certain they were spies of some sort, likely of Sauron. Arda is better for their deaths."
<:(

They fell silent again. Denlad’s thoughts were dark as he thought of all the death he had meted out by his own hand. Would that some day such grim deeds would no longer be necessary. But evil must be fought where it is found, and if weaker men find shadowed roads easiest to travel, then Denlad had no compunction against showing those men the folly of their ways. He just wished...
awww <:(((( he wishes he did not have to kill so. He has no love of the sword, but of what it protects. I hope he meets Faramir <3

He stopped the train of thought. There was no purpose in wishing. It only stole one’s concentration from the dangers at hand. He looked upward, his eyes taking in every clump of bush and every rock before them. The hillside seemed empty of enemies, and empty even of the hobbit... or child... they had glimpsed.
hmmmm hiding?
hobbits are good at that
and Aragorn is likely laying down, assuming they did not run or something

But even as they climbed, he saw Aragorn’s tracks, ever climbing, sometimes slipping, but going on again.
ooooh yes as he leaned on Ferdinand

Valar, keep giving him strength, and guide our own feet swiftly to his side before it is too late!
awww <333

LexilooperReviewed Chapter: 3 on 1/22/2026
Aragorn woke with a start. For a moment, he had no idea where he was. The sky above him was bright with mid-morning sun, and there was an unexpected but pleasant smell of bacon and... could that be eggs? He turned his head and everything fell into place as he spied Ferdinand Took busy again at his skillet.
awwww yay

Aragorn moved to sit up, forgetting in his half-awake state his injury, and such a fiery burst of pain exploded through him that he could not stop from crying out. He grabbed his side and fell back.
SKASJDFKSHG YES THANK YOU
FOR A MOMENT HE ACTUALLY CRIES OUT IN PAIN

Ferdinand was immediately at his side. "Here now, my boy. You have forgotten yourself! Lay quiet and let me see. We don’t want you ripping out those nice stitches I put in yesterday."
ooh he put in stitches, dang this hobbit is skilled and prepared
also he slept through the night <3 yay

Aragorn was too busy trying not to throw up last night’s meal to answer. The pain seemed to have made direct inroads to his belly, and his belly liked it not one bit. He felt clammy and dim and very, very ill.
yessss DEWIT

Ferdinand very carefully peeled back the bandage. "It is red, but not horribly so. I don’t think it is infected. The bruising has darkened, though. I imagine it is quite painful."
yesss indeed tis

"Mmm." Aragorn feared opening his mouth. He really did feel very close to retching up everything he had ever eaten. And he could not imagine the pain in his side should that happen.
YESSS DO IT DO IT
I mean
bad idea
...
Aragorn rendered speechless for fear of losing his dinner to pain :)

Something cool draped across his forehead, a damp cloth of some sort. He opened his eyes to see Ferdinand leaning over him, concern in his great blue eyes. "You do not have fever, but I know sometimes pain can make a body feel as sick as a dog after he’s been at the dustbin."
WAIT THIS MAKES SO MUCH MORE SENSE THAN JUST "SICK AS A DOG"
did you just make this up or is it the true original

Aragorn could not help smiling. That described exactly how he felt. He shut his eyes again and concentrated on breathing carefully and slowly and finally the pain abated somewhat and with it the extreme nausea, although his stomach was far from settled. "Could you," he started, then swallowed. "My pack... there is medicine..."
aww smile
yess

"Of course, of course! Say no more!" Ferdinand scurried over and unfastened the flap on the top of Aragorn’s pack. "Er, I said ‘say no more,’ but I fear I must ask what I am looking for."
lolllll that's what I was thinking

"Ginger. It’s a root...." Some willow bark and athelas would also be helpful, but first things first. He knew he could not keep willow bark down at the moment, and the athelas... he didn't feel up to explaining what to do with it.
yesss fair

Ferdinand dug for a moment, pulling out several folded packets, two of which spilled open, to his muttering consternation. He finally held up a light brown section of root. "Ah! I do believe this is it. I've not used it before... I'm not exactly well-versed in healing herbs and such, although I do know the basics, of course. But I'm not familiar with this ginger stuff, no. Does it help with upset stomachs?"
lolll oop

Aragorn nodded, wishing desperately that Ferdinand would stop talking.
he is indeed a hobbit

"Just... scrape off a bit... make a tea." And pray make it quickly or there will be no point...
lollll

"Very well, then," Ferdinand said. "Good thing I have the kettle on already." He checked the water, then pulled out his knife again and scraped away at the root. "Is that enough, do you think?"
Aragorn winced. Ferdinand had shaved nearly half the root away. It will cost me half the Dúnedain treasury to replace that. The nausea flexed its muscles, but he swallowed and hid his dismay. "Yes, that's... plenty."
':D poor guy oh dearrr

"Very well then, while this steeps, let me put the rest of this back to rights. I doubt I’ll pack it away as neatly as you did, though. And I do apologize for spilling some of it." He busied himself with carefully closing the packets, then paused as he held up two long leaves. "I say, I think I have some of this growing amongst my cucumbers." He sniffed it and then nodded. "Yes, this is the very thing. Smells wonderfully fresh but it does take over when it invades your cucumber patch."
lollll

"That is athelas. Used for..." He had to stop and shut his eyes as another wave of nausea threatened to undo him.
yesss

"Oh, dear boy, don’t try to talk right now. I know what this is... kingsfoil, we call it. Grand name for all that it’s naught but a weed. As I said, it got in amongst my cucumbers and I really feel I will have to simply move my cucumbers next year, for once this stuff gets established, just try to get rid of it.
OH ARAGORN'S IN FOR IT
no wonder he's so frustrated when every herb-person in Gondor seems to follow the same habit of rambling about the uselessness of kingsfoil
that's really useful it takes over once established <3 otherwise it might've died out by now with its lack of attention

I have an idea where it came from: it was Drusilla Bracegirdle’s doing, I’m sure of it. Not that she meant to infest my garden with such a menace, you understand. Drusilla is a fine lass, absolutely top notch, and her garden is spoken of with the highest regard by all from Michel Delving to Buckland and Greenfields to Sackville; yes, praised highly even by those stingy-mouthed Sackville-Bagginses. Just try to catch the Sackville-Bagginses praising anything; they're as stingy with good words as they are with everything else. But she... Drusilla, that is, not Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, gave me some flowers, wildflowers you see–beautiful asters, all purple with yellow centers. Quite lovely, asters are, in the autumn when the goldenrod has set its candle flame along the woodsy edges. Lovely. And these were fine ones indeed, and I couldn’t have been more pleased. But they weren’t from her gardens, as it happened. No, she bought them from a merchant in Bree and gave them to me on her birthday, and I can bet you my last cask of Old Toby that the merchant dug them up from out in the wilds, because that’s the only place kingsfoil grows–you know, here and there in wild places where no one’s lived in recent memory. I’ve seen it, on my travels. I don’t doubt that those scattered patches mark the home places of folk long gone. Leaves me a bit wistful it does. At any rate, I should never have planted those flowers so close to my cucumbers. The seeds of the kingsfoil must have been all through those flowers’ roots. And kingsfoil has such deep roots! Frost won’t get them, not by a long chance. They come back, no matter how bitter the winter, you see."
DEEP ROOTS ARE NOT REACHED BY THE FROST SAKJSGHDSJGHDSFGJKSDF

Aragorn did see but he felt too dazed by the onslaught of gardening lore to say so.
LOLL gardening lore

Ferdinand seemed not to mind that his conversation was one-sided, nor that his listener had his eyes closed and his jaw clenched and was in all likelihood turning as green as the kingsfoil.
LOL

He prattled on cheerfully, "Still, I do like the smell of it. So fresh and clean. Makes me think of the world as it should be and not the wretched mess it is now. I’ve always thought it a shame that it was a weed and not something useful, and here you tell me there is a use for it after all! Fancy that! I do wonder what good it does, but no, don’t speak. You can tell me later. Ah, the ginger tea looks to be ready."
aw yayy he did listen to the part where Aragorn said it has a use <3

Aragorn heard the sound of tea pouring into a cup, then opened his eyes as Ferdinand drew near. Ferdinand held the cup to his lips. The tea was far too strong, but it tasted good, if not a bit harsh on his tongue and throat. After several swallows, the beast stirring his stomach resignedly went back to sleep. Aragorn sighed with relief. "Thank you."
yayyyyy

Ferdinand sat back on his heels and studied him, the lines of concern wreathing his face melting away. "Oh, I’m that glad it’s working, I need not tell you. I was so worried. But there, you don’t look so green now at all, although you look hardly ready for a hobbit-sized breakfast, even if it is gone on second breakfast now."
mmm yes lol
I was surprised he was able to eat the food last night without immediate trouble

Aragorn’s face twisted. "No." The very idea of eggs... the very idea of anything, actually.
yess

He felt unutterably weary and ill and sore, and childish though it may be, he suddenly wanted more than anything for Lord Elrond to walk into their camp to take care of him. Ferdinand Took’s prowess at healing was astounding but, well, there was simply no greater healer than Lord Elrond. He shut his eyes as a great lump set itself up in his throat, and no matter how sternly he told himself to grow up, stop being ridiculous, it refused to budge.
AWWWWW <:(((( ME TOOOO <333 his Ada to walk in to camp and take care of him with his gentle and loving healing hands, as gentle as Ferdinand is being now, he cannot help but wish for Elrond <333

"There now, Mr. Strider, you look downright piteous, and I feel for you, I do." There was a small noise of splashing water, then Aragorn felt a cool cloth being applied to his face. Ferdinand stroked the cloth gently across his cheeks and forehead. "I imagine feeling as you do you would rather have your mother here. Seems all wounded soldiers cry for their mothers, bless them."
AWWWW
dang he's good
extremely astute

"You know many soldiers?" Aragorn murmured, eager to change the subject from his ludicrous bout of homesickness.
of course he is :(

"No, not many. None, if the truth be told, wounded or otherwise. But still... I’ve told you that I am more observant than most hobbits, and I sit at the table at the Prancing Pony–do you know the place? In Bree? It’s a fine inn, and one I go to when I travel that way, which is not as frequent as I would wish but nonetheless, I do try to make it a point at least twice each season to wander that way. Barliman has fine ale, he does. And he has rooms set up for the ‘Little Folk’ as he likes to call us. Fine man, Butterbur, although he does get a bit testy at times. But I don’t think he is overly fond of Rangers, which I used to think was quite justified, but as I get to know you and see that you’re far from the rascal your kind makes yourselves out to be, I wonder if his suspicion of you is a bit misplaced.
aww <3

You see, I have seen Rangers in there a time or two, but only from a distance mind you; I’ve never spoken to a single one. They’re all so dour and silent, not anyone you’d just sidle up to with a slap on the back and a how’s the morn. And I’m quite sure I have never seen you there. At any rate, if you do chance to take a meal there, see that you behave and you’ll have little trouble, for Barliman doesn’t seem to mind a Ranger being there, as long as he behaves. And it’s a fine place for a meal. A very fine place."
aww yes
and Strider does indeed know the place <3

Aragorn opened his mouth to say that he did indeed frequent the Pony and he did know Barliman Butterbur–and that yes, he had been on the receiving end of Barliman’s dislike of Rangers, despite always, or nearly always, behaving.
aww <:( he's like but I behave!
longs for trust in his lonely life, or however he tells Frodo
nearly always XD

But had no chance to utter even a single word as Ferdinand chattered on without seeming to ever take a breath.
lol he is extremely talkative

"At any rate, I like to sit quietly and just listen to all the conversations. Amazing what you hear when you keep your mouth shut and your ears open. So I listen to the Big Folk talk of battle and war. Fascinating stuff, that. And I have spoken with Bilbo Baggins, who has told me of hearing the Elves speak of their terrible troubles through the ages, and one or another of them mentioning something about a fallen comrade calling for his mother. ‘Tis a horrid thing, war. I wish we might never have another, but I fear the greatest one of all is coming."
danggg he keeps surprising me <3

When it seemed Ferdinand had truly run out of words, Aragorn dared speak. "You seem to know much."
yesss

"For a hobbit?"
"For a hobbit, man or Elf."
<33 aw yay

Ferdinand smiled, but there was no boasting in it. "Yes, I suppose I do, although I think there is far more of the world’s knowledge about which I am ignorant, maybe blissfully so. But I do try to find out what I can, when I can. Most of my kin keep themselves to themselves, you might say, but I like finding out about the world beyond our borders–it helps me, you see, in teaching my many nephews and nieces, although their parents think I’m a bit of a crackpot," he said, then laughed merrily. "But someone in the community must be the crackpot and it seems the role suits me. It is all so fascinating, you see. I cannot help but want to know more and more and more,
yesssss MOOD

and that, well, that puts me in company with that awful Bilbo Baggins, who went forth on an adventure, how dare he!" He laughed again. "Ah, what tales my cousin Bilbo has told me when I was a young hobbit, in and out of his house all day long! Take you, for instance. You are Númenórean, and thanks to Bilbo, I have some knowledge of that ill-fated isle. For me to meet a descendent of the Faithful that escaped the destruction, to meet one of that line of great men that most think are gone forever... oh, what a thrill to quite literally have tripped over the fact that the rumors of that people’s demise have been rather exaggerated! Indeed, an honor it is and a memory I will treasure always."
AWWWWWWW yessss

Momentarily at a loss at hearing such rare kind words, Aragorn slowly smiled. "Thank you. Few think of us so highly, if they remember us at all."
AWWWW
HE'S TOUCHED <3 skadhfgsdkjf "such rare kind words" <:( <3

"Bah. Ignorance, that’s all, and too much easy belief in the convenience of myth, where no one needs think about darker things that are still yet lurking in this world and must at some point be dealt with. Far easier to assign such things to legend and ignore them. But perhaps I am being a bit harsh, because there is surely an element of fear involved. We hobbits like to stick with what we know, and for most of us, that is farming and family, food and ale. And for most of us, that is enough to keep us quite content. Thinking of anything that would destroy that–well, it simply doesn’t bear thinking about, and I suppose I can’t blame them."
aww good point. he has much compassion for them.

"But still you think of it, and deeply, it seems."
yesss

Ferdinand grinned. "Of course I do, young man.
still calls him that XD

I am a descendent of the great Bullroarer Took, after all! The Fallohide strain runs strong in my veins! And if I were tall and rugged like you, I would be striding around the world, sticking my nose into all kinds of trouble and driving to apoplexy every good hobbit who knows that proper hobbit behavior is to stay safely within your own hedgerow and not go poking around to see if any legends are still out there ready to spring to life under one’s feet."
EOMER'S WORDS (I think)

"There is plenty of trouble out there for you to stick your nose into, that is certain." Aragorn sighed quietly... and carefully... and studied the clouds. "Arda is marred, Ferdinand. And a great Evil dwells to the East and South. You are right when you say a great war is coming, although when and where is yet to be decided. But it is coming. I do not see how it can be avoided."
mmmmm yes he has many things he can tell Ferdinand, but I'm slightly surprised he told even this much

Ferdinand for once stilled his tongue and merely nodded. They fell quiet, each keeping to their own thoughts. Aragorn’s strayed to Halbarad. He must be frantic with worry by now, for it was three days ago, or perhaps longer – he was hopelessly muddled on his days – that Aragorn was supposed to have returned to the camp at Chetwood. No doubt he has set out to comb the countryside for me. The thought warmed him, but he also felt a squirm of embarrassment at having to be found, like broken baggage that had fallen off the back of some farmer’s wain.
<:( nooo be nice to my boy

But such was life at times. He had learned a hard and painful lesson about hiding illness and denying weakness with that business with the Wraith. Never again would he push aside help nor sound advice when offered. He glanced at Ferdinand. Even when that help was offered by a hand much smaller than his own.
YESSSS GOOD <3 never again do that

"I don’t like the looks of that, now," Ferdinand suddenly said. He stood to his feet and peered off down the hillside, and it was only then that Aragorn realized that they weren’t where he had fallen when Ferdinand first found him, but apparently atop one of the bluff-faced hills that marked the start of the Weather Hills. He had a vague recollection of leaning on the hobbit’s shoulder, of falling and stumbling endlessly, and he supposed that was how Ferdinand contrived to drag him so far from where he first fell. But finding out for certain would have to wait, for Aragorn did not like the look of worry on the hobbit's face.
oooh interesting
just realizing

"What do you see?"
"Two men, traveling fast, right in this direction."
YESS YAY

"It could be my men. What do they look like?"
<333

"Fierce, both of them, and tall. One is dark, hair falling well past his shoulders–he looks almost like an Elf, very fair of face he seems even from here, but I am quite sure he must be a man. Hair’s too wavy to be an Elf’s, from what I’ve heard of what Elves must look like, and he has a beard. Bilbo’s seen them, of course... Elves, that is, not beards... but I haven’t."
ELVES THAT IS, NOT BEARDS XDDDD

He turned and looked back at Aragorn. "Did you know Bilbo’s at Rivendell now? Fancy him leaving the Shire to live out his days there. I miss him. And envy him. I would like to do such a thing, if–"
"Ferdinand. The approaching men?"
lollll thank you

"Oh my, yes! I do go on, don’t I!" He turned his gaze back down the hill. "No, he’s definitely a man, not an Elf. The more I think on it, the more positive I am that Elves don’t have beards. Or at least not unless they’re very, very old. I think there’s an Elf at the Grey Havens with a big silver beard, but that’s just a rumor. I’ve never been off in that direction, nor seen the sea, although I would rather like to. Have you seen the sea? I’ve heard it’s a lovely but fearfully big thing, full of–"
SKAJDFG
BUDDY
lol yes Cirdan

"Ferdinand!"
"Oh, I’m sorry, very sorry. The men... yes, I do need to pay more attention. Let’s see... yes, the other is definitely a man. Hair is not as long as all that but oh, how it shines! Golden as the noon-day sun. He doesn’t seem so Elf-like, but there’s a nobility in his bearing. I must say, both those men are quite striking. I’ve not seen many of their likes."
awww yesssss I love them

Aragorn smiled at such poetic descriptions. Halbarad the Elven, Fierce and Fair of Face, and Noble Denlad of the Golden Hair. Either man would be mortified at hearing themselves described so. "That sounds like Halbarad and Denlad. If it is them, have no fear. They are friends."
HEHEHE AWWWWW
love

"Oh good, then. I would hate for two such as those to be enemies." Ferdinand watched for a moment longer. "They each wear cloaks. Grayish green ones, very much like yours, and there seems to be something shiny at the neck."
Aragorn relaxed. It was sure to be Halbarad and Denlad. "You have sharp eyes, my friend. Those are the pins of the Dúnedain."
<33333 yay

"Like yours?" Ferdinand gestured to the star-shaped pin on Aragorn’s cloak, which was still doing double duty as a blanket.
Aragorn nodded.
yesss

Ferdinand turned his attention back to the approaching men. "Shall I wave or something?"
"No. They will find us without your beckoning."
they are after all Rangers and have tracked this far :)

Ferdinand suddenly gasped and stood on tiptoe. "Oh dear! Oh dear!"
"What?"
"Oh my ... they have been waylaid! Three men, with flashing swords, charging right at them! Oh dear!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO
bandit's friends?
please don't hurt my guys

LexilooperReviewed Chapter: 2 on 1/22/2026
"Sticklebacks," Halbarad muttered under his breath as he paced around the fire. He tossed the remnants of supper – the bones of a pheasant – into the fire and wiped his hands off on some soft leaves of lamb’s-ear that he also tossed to the flames. He and the rest of the Rangers in the east Shire patrol were camped to the southeast of Chetwood, between Bree and the Midgewater Marshes, where they haunted the edges of the Great East Road, keeping watch for anything that might come along to pose a threat to the Shire.
HALBARADDDDDDDDDD
I MISSED HIMMMMMMM
<33333 I was not expecting

Denlad shot him an amused glance. "‘Sticklebats’? Hobbit habits are rubbing off on you."
hehehe

"’Tis a handy phrase. And there are worse habits one can pick up,"
lol yesss I may pick it up too. I love how Halbarad's like you know having "sticklebacks" in your vocabulary can come in useful" *sage nod* XD <3

Halbarad countered. He scrubbed at his face with both hands, running them down his cheeks and beard and then around under the long tangles of his black hair to massage the back of his neck. He blew out a long breath as he stared into the early evening sky. "I am worried."
yessss

There’s overstating the obvious, Denlad thought. He wiped the last smudge from his sword and tucked the rag back into his pack as stood to slide his blade back into its scabbard. "And here I thought all that pacing and huffing and puffing was simply a sign of the indigestion that plagues those of your advanced age."
LOLLLLLL XD I surely missed Denlad as well <333

"Keep your cheekiness to yourself, Denlad. I am worried about Aragorn. He should have been back by now."
yessssss oooh yes so he is not alone on this patrol, exactly. Not meant to be for long, anyway. That makes me happy. I love how they mostly stick somewhat together even in their solitary patrols, for safety in numbers and in friendship <3

"I’m sorry," Denlad said, immediately contrite. "I have my own hobbit habit in sometimes hiding deeper feelings behind foolish jests. I too am getting concerned, truth be told. But he’s not overly late yet. Maybe he simply chased something farther afield than he intended."
awww <33 Denlad

"Or maybe something chased him. And caught him." He hitched his sword to a better position on his hip. "No, something is not right. I’m going after him. Take reports from the sentries as they come in; see that the patrols here are covered as they should be. You know what to do. Aragorn was headed east. He said he wanted to skirt the Great East Road on the north side past the Marshes, to check on the area near the Weather Hills. I do not know if he planned to go beyond Weathertop, but he may have, and let us hope that is all that has delayed his return. I don’t know how long it will take me to find him, but if I am not back by four days hence, gather a patrol with horses and set out after me. I will leave cairns."
mmm yess leaving Denlad in charge <3

"I would rather you didn’t go alone."
"No, I need you here, Denlad."
Denlad planted his feet wide apart and crossed his arms. "Eledh is fully capable of taking reports and bringing a patrol if need be."
YESSS HE WILL COME

Halbarad glared at him, but Denlad had no wish to lose this battle of wills. Halbarad was his senior, in years and in rank, and he would obey should Halbarad absolutely order him to stay behind, but just as Aragorn was as a brother to Halbarad, he was nearly a father to Denlad, and he would not see himself left behind, not when his own unease flowed in such a tumultuous cascade through his gut.
AWWWW <:(( HE WAS NEARLY A FATHER TO DENLAD <33 father-heart Aragorn would be filled with joy to hear that
I love this balance of "I will obey...but only if none of my cards work. Only if absolutely necessary, for I will not go down without a fight." healthy respect of authority but using and sharing and fighting for his own judgement and desires as well

Halbarad’s scowl did not waver, so Denlad played his trump card. "If Aragorn is injured, he will need my healing skills."
HEHEHE a great trump

"So be it," Halbarad grumbled. "I simply pray you will find it a wasted journey." A corner of his mouth suddenly quirked upward. "Perhaps your company will vex me so that I will have no time for worrying."
AWW YES :)) cute

"That’s the spirit!" Denlad grinned, then slapped Halbarad’s shoulder.
HEHEHE THEY'RE SO CUTE
that's the spirit!

"Fear not. We will find him. But before we rush into the night barehanded, you find food for us, and I will alert Eledh." It suddenly occurred to him that he was ordering Halbarad about as though he were nothing but a green recruit. "Ah, that is, if that meets with your approval."
aww hehe he's like oops I'm ordering him around

"You will be taking over as Chieftain if Aragorn is not mindful of his place," Halbarad said with a soft laugh. He waved his hand. "Go, find Eledh and inform him of our leaving. Then hasten back, for I will leave in a quarter hour, with or without you."
LOL <33 Aragorn raised him well
yesss making all haste

They moved quickly on foot, slipping with the silence of mist through the wild lands, heading east. Years of patrolling this area left them knowing nearly every stone and twig, and as they passed they looked but did not find any sign of Aragorn, save an odd track that may or may not have been left by him.
hmmmm

"Is it his?" Denlad asked as they bent to look at one such vague mark in the dust beside a clump of grass.
"It must be. It’s the right size, and this is the direction he said he’d be going. And it’s off the road, as he usually travels. It cannot be anyone else’s."
aww yay <3
seeing signs he was here is just. comforting. especially when missing him, to go, he stood here! They shared this space!

Scant assurance, or so Denlad thought, but he did not say anything. He looked instead to their back trail and took what small comfort there was in verifying that no man or creature seemed to be following the same trail.
hmmmmm <:(

And so the hours passed until sunlight faded too much for them to see. They stopped to rest for the night, and daybreak found them traveling at speed once more. They ran throughout the day, speaking little, even when they stopped briefly for a mid-day rest and a meal.
hmm how long had it been since he left? How does this now match up with where we left him? do these two days equate to the two(?) days Aragorn had been wandering since being stabbed? I think it was two days. Perhaps one? Ah, I found the place. Aragorn does not even know how long it's been, so I will guess two.
also, their journey is making me rethink how long "if I am not back in four days" sounded. Like that seems a long time to wait, but...if they are to search all the way to Weathertop perhaps, and then come back, that's a double-journey, and for all they know they may find Aragorn wounded and not be able to return so quickly.

As the afternoon wore on, it seemed every step drove dread deeper into Denlad’s soul, and he found himself battling an onslaught of fearful thoughts.
There are too few signs... we’re missing something, surely...
<:((((

No, he immediately chided himself. Aren’t we all skilled woodsmen who can pass over a land leaving behind naught but a shadow? And Aragorn is the best of us all. It is no small wonder we are finding so few signs.
mmm yes true

Fear immediately countered. But a man, no matter how skilled, will leave signs, and more than we have found. Those we have seen are so vague... what if we have passed Aragorn by completely, and he lies wounded in some ditch an hour behind us, breathing his last?
<:(((
thankfully not, if perhaps only for Ferdinand <3

But they would have seen signs of that, surely. If Aragorn was hurt or ill, his signs would then become obvious, for an injured man cannot be so careful in the trail he leaves behind.
mmm true, he must have been injured farther on

So, Denlad told himself sternly, stop worrying. Unless some flying beast swooped down and snatched him off the face of Arda, Aragorn must surely be unharmed, and they would find him.
hmmmm well

All the same, he couldn’t help casting a fearful glance upward at the empty sky.
<:(((
he's like IS THERE A FLYING BEAST

So his dreary thoughts continued through the hours until the gloaming deepened toward night. They came then upon an upright stone, a standing black shadow looming some thirty feet into the air, looking like it could have been thrust into the ground by the angry hand of some giant in long ages past. It was a well-known landmark, one the Rangers used often, and it marked the place Aragorn generally liked to camp when he patrolled this region. But tonight, with the early rising moon casting its cold light on the blunt peak, Denlad thought it looked somehow fey and terrible. He shivered. "I like not the feel of this place," he whispered.
hmmmm
it feels like the barrow-downs

Halbarad squatted and laid his hand on the remains of a fire. "Cold. And at least one dew has fallen upon it. He has not been here in at least a day."
yayyyyyy a certain sign

Denlad chewed his lip. "We must wait until morn, then, to find his trail. I do not trust my eyes to see anything in this darkness, and he could have walked off in any of a hundred directions."
"Likely not a hundred, but certainly a dozen. You are right, though. We cannot go blundering into the night after him."
mm true <:( they must stay here

So they settled themselves at the base of the rock and passed a restless night, lighting no fire and taking turns keeping watch, for although they had neither seen nor heard any beast or man, there existed every possibility that something evil lurked in the blackness, something that may have attacked Aragorn and may even now have its sights on the two of them.
somehow I do not think that same evil has its sights on them. Aragorn took care of that :).

Denlad tried to sleep when Halbarad spelled him on watch, but it seemed every small noise brought him to heart-pounding wakefulness. Truth to tell, this night reminded Denlad far too much of the days they had spent along the Hoarwell, chasing–and being chased by–a Nazgûl. Aragorn had nearly met his end during those dark days.* Denlad peered into the black shadows cast by the moon. Yes, this was far too much like that moonlit night nearly three years ago.
mmm yesssssss

He liked it not one bit.
<:(((( NOT good memories of his Chieftain and father-figure coming to the brink of deathhh
and when he left them he was still in dangerous straits as was Halbarad, the other Rangers must have been in agony waiting for news

But the long night passed, and nothing leapt at them from the shadows, and though neither of them felt very rested as dawn lightened the eastern sky, Halbarad started right away on the search for tracks, and Denlad followed suit on the opposite side of the rock, which in morning’s cheerful light looked quite harmless. Denlad shook his head at his own folly. Letting darkness so rattle his calm like he was nothing more than a frightened child; it was shameful.
<:(( it's okayyy
dark evils really do exist and stalk about in yours world, it is right to be wary

He squatted down to better see the ground. For a long moment, he remained motionless, only his eyes moving as he looked methodically over every square inch before moving to his right a pace and repeating his careful study. His eyes lit on a broken branch and he hurried forward. On the ground beneath it was the faint outline of a man’s heel. "Halbarad!"
OOH YAY

Halbarad hurried over and looked. "At last! That is Aragorn’s; there can be no doubt. He has a cracked heel on that boot and was complaining about it to me only a week past."
SKAJDSF YAYYYY
I love hearing of the little domestic things like complaining about a cracked heel on his boot <3 especially in the moments like this where normalcy seems far away

They both moved forward and Halbarad found another sign. Aragorn had headed north, at a normal pace. Whatever danger may have befallen him certainly had not chased him from this campsite. They hurried as fast as they could without losing the trail, until finally, shortly after the sun’s highest hour, a movement in the sky some miles off caught his eye. "Halbarad," Denlad gasped, pointing.
Vultures, many of them, circling in a black column of death.
SKSAJ

"It is not him," Halbarad said. "Likely a dead stag."
or perhaps
a dead bandit :)

Denlad heard the desperate plea underlying Halbarad’s words and said nothing. It was his own frantic supplication as well.
They hurried on.
<:((((

Denlad thought his knees would surely give way, so shattering was his relief. He moved upwind of the decomposing body... the body that was decidedly Southron in garb and coloring and completely the wrong height to be Aragorn... and sent upward a silent but fervent prayer of thanks.
yesssssss yay <3

"I wonder who he is. Or was. He has been dead at least a day, perhaps two," Halbarad said. He bent down and, holding his shirt over his mouth and nose with one hand, rolled the body over. He peeled back the man’s coat. "No weapons, and there is a grievous wound in his belly. If I know Aragorn, that is the mark of his sword." He pulled the body onto its side and looked. "The blow severed the man’s spine, see?"
yessssss
does that cause a quicker death? Or is it just a technique he uses

Denlad grimaced. A Ranger he may be, and one not unused to the grim details of violent death, but he still had no desire to gaze long nor close on such wounds when the man who bore them was so long dead. "I will take your word for it."
lol very fair

"I am sure that is Aragorn’s work. I have seen him deliver just such a wound, more times than I can count."
yessssss good good <3

Denlad turned away from the grisly sight and looked at the dusty ground. There was a jumble of footprints all around the man’s body, some clear, some smudged as wind slowly did its work to erase them. It was obvious that quite a struggle had taken place. There was evidence that at least one man may have stepped into a gopher hole. Perhaps the Southron had, and that had given Aragorn his opportunity. But then Denlad frowned as he found a dark spot, rusty brown and almost black. He knelt and touched it with his finger. It was dry.
oooooooh ooh ooh

And no mistaking: it was blood. But whose?
hehehe

He looked back at the man’s body. This stain was too far away to have come from the Southron, if he had indeed fallen where he had been stabbed. And he could see very little blood on the man’s clothing. Likely the blow had been instantly debilitating, if not fatal, and so there could have been little in the way of bleeding except what might have pooled beneath the body. That meant this blood could very well have come from the man’s opponent. He leaned down, his face inches from the ground as he studied the footprints, trying to hang onto a desperate but frail hope that the Southron’s foe had been someone else. After a moment, his heart sank. He found the familiar cracked heel print, and several more bloodstains. There could be no doubt. "Aragorn is wounded."
YESSSSSSS HEHEHE I love seeing the thought process reasoning through what could have happened and what could not have and how it must be Aragorn...and the the heel print confirms.

Halbarad hurried over. "May Valar grant him grace to survive until we find him."
awww <33

He hurried past, following footprints that, far from the steady if elusive pattern they had shown up to this point, were now very obvious and very erratic in their placement, the sign of someone wounded and struggling to keep on and no longer able to hide the sign of his passing. Here and there were more blackish stains on the ground, and then under the shelter of a bush, Denlad found another stain, and a place where a man had knelt.
yessssss yes the erratic clear footprints confirming his state and struggle, Aragorn wounded and near passing out cannot really hide his tracks well
mmm he stopped

He bent down and picked up a small piece of dark blue fabric, stained nearly black at the edge. "Aragorn’s shirt," he said, holding it up. "He must have used it, torn it... made a bandage."
skasdjfsg I love this tracking <33 seeing what Aragorn had done, things he himself barely remembers

Halbarad nodded; there was nothing else to say.
They hurried on.
YESSSSSS I am getting excited
they are on the trail now

LexilooperReviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/22/2026
Aww I think the world could use some more Tookishness as well, and I'm excited to hear about another one adventuring <3

No, it was a song. Some song he thought he knew, a song from the Shire, perhaps. Something about eating turkey or duck or suckling pig. Something roasted, at any rate. The words sluggishly came to him...
Fancy it roasted, fancy it toasted, fancy it served on a platter...
LOLL sounds like a Shire song indeed

"Drink a good ale, sing a brave tale, a song of the heroes that mattered," Aragorn mumbled. He blinked and opened one eye. Saw a very close glimpse of an ant climbing a grass stem. It stopped and looked at him. Or at least seemed to.
I must be delirious.
LOLLLLLLL he's so cute
hobbit vibes right there, finishing the song even as he wakes up (Frodo vibes :))
THE ANT STOPPING AND LOOKING AT HIM XD so cute

But he supposed he wasn’t, and the thought brought no comfort. Feeling was trickling back, and with it hazy fragments of memory, and with both the realization that he could do with a bit more oblivion.
oooh
lol he's like I'm not delirious...that's not better

The song churned in his mind, the same feverish bit over and over. Fancy it roasted... fancy it toasted... fancy it roasted...
mmm
I love how disorienting this is
trying to return to the normal world

He groaned. He could not imagine eating anything at the moment. Or drinking ale, good or otherwise. And he realised with a growing sense of dread that no one would ever sing of this latest misfortune of his, unless it be as a cautionary tale to frighten young hobbits into having the good sense never to leave their holes. Though his brain had yet to truly sort out the details, he could not ignore the vague but persistent notion that this fix was entirely due to some failing of his own.
skasjgjksdh yess sick to his stomach
not his own <:(

He turned his head slightly, straining to place himself in time and memory. He started with the only thing he knew for certain: he lay sprawled on his side, nearly face down in the scrubby weeds and grasses somewhere in the middle of the wilds between Bree and Weathertop.
oooh yess almost face down sprawled

Why here? Why between Bree and...
Patrolling. He had been patrolling.
mm okay

He swallowed. What else? Fancy it roasted... fancy it toasted...
LOL he's like

He growled and clenched his fists, driving away the distracting drone of those random words.
...it roasted... toasted...
he's like stop XD

He pushed himself onto his back and gasped. Pain... his side...
He was wounded...
yesssss gasp of pain

Yes, that was it! Despite the pain, he was exultant. He was wounded, yes. Wounded by a bandit who had fancied his sword.
LOLLLLLL
cackling at how happy Aragorn is over this
I figured it out! I remembered! I am WOUNDED! That's it *satisfied nod*

Aragorn breathed a laugh as sweet memory returned. Oh, yes. He had given the man his sword. In the belly. Up to the hilt.
LOLL
laughing over remembering

He smiled at the memory, but then he coughed and the pain in his side drove away any satisfaction he felt over vanquishing said villain. Far better had he dispatched the man before the man had stabbed him in the side with a dagger.
hehe yes

Stabbed him... a day ago? Two? He could remember shredding his tunic into a makeshift bandage, and then after that nothing but an endless struggle of walking and falling and losing himself only to waken once more and struggle to his feet, keeping on until somehow he might find safety. Keeping on until strength finally left him, and he fell one last time to the ground here in this place, awakening to an eye-to-eye encounter with an ant and...
oooooh yess it's been awhile
<:(( struggling through these days, so alone with no one to find support in, and so he must struggle on making his own bandages and trying to find safety

Whistling.
He thought a moment, wondering if he should stay hidden or try to summon the mysterious whistler. Surely no one who would whistle so merry a tune could be a villain.
yess I agree :)

Aragorn blinked a few more times and then struggled to sit up. The scrubby vegetation still rose too high for him to see anything, so painfully, slowly, he struggled to his knees. The world broke out in black spots. After a long moment kneeling with head hanging, the spots faded.
SKADSHSGKJH KNEELING WITH HIS HEAD HANGING
showing how precarious his hold on staying upright is

He drew one knee and then the other under him and pushed to his feet. He staggered in a circle, his head swimming as he looked all around and finally spied the music maker, whose crown of curly light brown hair bobbed along barely visible above the grasses. It was a...
yessss head swimming
YES HOBBIT

Surely not...
HEHE

He squinted and tried to focus eyes that did not seem inclined to work the way they should. Yes, it was a hobbit. In the wilds, not only well beyond the safety of the Shire but well off the Great East Road and heading straight toward him.
LOL only a Took :))
he's like we're trying to protect you guys! What are you doing out here!
love his eyes continuing to be uncooperative

"Surely this cannot be," he muttered and rubbed his eyes, but it did indeed appear that a Shireling was walking briskly toward him, stumping along the faint game path, his walking stick beating time to the song he whistled.
YESSSS I love them

"Hail..." Aragorn tried to call but his voice was so weak the wind snatched the word away. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Hail, Master Hobbit!"
skashgksjh weak voice

The hobbit, who looked neither young nor old, stopped abruptly and stared. "Mercy upon me, what has sprung out from a hole in the ground but a man, and a very raggedy and patchedy man at that!"
YESS HI <3 lolll

Aragorn supposed he did look a sight, bloodied in his makeshift bandage, shirtless under his tattered leather coat, his pack askew on his back and untidily festooned with his dark green cloak.
dang did he not even take his pack off before collapsing
I suppose he wouldn't

In far too much pain to be bothered with rolling the cloak up properly, he had merely stuffed it through the straps with a prayer that it stayed put.
yess

"My apologies for my appearance," he said with what he hoped was a disarming smile but feared was more likely a death’s head rictus of pain.
yessss <3

"It... it has not been the best of days for me."
oh yeah?

The hobbit suddenly started. "You’re injured!"
YES THANKS <3

"So it... would seem," Aragorn gasped and felt his knees buckle.
lolll
HAHAHA THE GASP AND BUCKLE

The hobbit dropped his stick and hurried to his side. "My dear man, let me help you."
AWW I LOVE HIM
someone, a stranger, caring for Aragorn and readily helping him, particularly a hobbit, who are generally kind but shy of big folk, makes me happy and warms my heart <33
calling him "my dear man" sounds so very hobbity (or like Gandalf, either Gandalf or Bilbo) but also so kind and friendly and warm <3

He caught Aragorn around the waist, easing him gently down, managing somehow despite his small size to keep Aragorn from helplessly thudding to the ground to do Valar only knew what additional damage to himself.
yessss

No easy task, that, Aragorn thought wryly, since even kneeling, he overtopped the hobbit by a head if not a bit more.
STRONG HOBBIT <3

As the hobbit helped pull the pack from Aragorn’s shoulders, Aragorn wanted to thank him, but his thoughts were getting increasingly fuzzy, and he could not quite get his tongue around the words. So he merely gave the hobbit’s arm a clumsy pat. Based on the smile he received in return, the message got through.
"gentled" awwww that that's the verb used shows how much care he's using in this

The hobbit carefully pulled open Aragorn’s coat and gentled his arms from the sleeves. Aragorn looked down and noted with a strange detachment that the crimson stain marring the bandages had grown alarmingly. A coppery taste filled his mouth and a faint buzzing in his ears was growing loud enough to drown out the wind. "I-I think... I am going to faint...."
yessss
OOH BLOOD IN HIS MOUTH
OH DEAR
LOL that considerate announcement
Ferdinand is probably like, well thank you, oh dear

And he did.
yessss

He woke up to stars over his head and the cheerful crackle of a fire beside him and a strange constricting tightness around his chest. His questing hand encountered cloth. He looked down and saw what looked like strips of his spare shirt wrapped around and around his ribs far more neatly than his own bandage had been.
ooooh so it's more in his ribs
dangerous, that

How the small hobbit had managed to contrive such a thing so skillfully on a man so much bigger than he astonished him a bit, but then he had heard many times from Gandalf that there was quite more to hobbits than met the eye. Maybe hobbits were uncommonly strong for their size.
yessss

He pressed down lightly on the site of the wound. He might have struck himself with a blazing poker, so fierce did the pain bite.
LOL HA :)

He grimaced and abandoned his explorations, turning his face instead toward the fire’s warmth. The hobbit sat near it, poking at something sizzling in an iron spider. He spied Aragorn’s small movements and smiled. "Ah, awake at last, I see!" He gave the food he was cooking one last poke and then brushed his hands on his pants and stood. He gave Aragorn a small bow. "Ferdinand Took, at your service."
awwww yay
hehe of course he's cooking <3 Aragorn could certainly learn that skill

"Call me Strider, and I am at yours," Aragorn replied, bowing as best as he could, considering he was flat on his back and in no way possessing the strength to rise. Just raising his head made the world tilt and spin like a child’s top. He swallowed hard, digging his fingers into the soil as if he could force Arda to be still. "I... I am... in your debt."
awwwww loll yesss getting incredibly dizzy even raising his head
trying to make Arda be still, as if that's the problem :))

"Bah, ‘twas only what any decent citizen would do. You have a grave wound." Bright blue eyes surveyed him quizzically.
<33

"A bandit," Aragorn supplied. He wished his voice was stronger. "He will no longer trouble travelers in these parts."
yayyy
hehe weak voice

"Good, good." The hobbit suddenly bent back down and poked his food again. The wind shifted slightly, and Aragorn smelled a tantalizing combination of wood smoke laced with sausage and onions and potatoes. His mouth watered and he swallowed, wondering if the hobbit intended to share the bounty and how he could repay him if he did. Ferdinand Took saw his hungry look and laughed. "Don’t worry, there’s plenty for us both. I’m glad you woke up by yourself. I wasn’t sure I would be able to wake you, you were sleeping so soundly."
aww yessss he's like a respectable hobbit would never leave another hungry!
I'm glad he's ready for food now

Aragorn grunted and hissed as he pulled himself upright, trying to ignore the fact that the world promptly started drifting slowly back and forth like a worn-out clock pendulum. Spying a handy boulder nearby, he hitched himself around so he could lean against it. He shut his eyes and when he opened them again, the ground was steady and the stabbing echoes of the bandit’s blade had mercifully faded to a more manageable dull throb. He tried to take shallow breaths, supporting his ribs with one hand as he wiped the sweat that had popped out on his brow with the back of the other. "That was not so pleasant," he murmured.
sksadjsgh yessss the ordeal of sitting up without falling over
enough that he remarks on it

"You have a cracked rib or two. That must have been a fairly hefty blade you got stuck with."
"It was a dagger. Harad-make."
eeee yeah
dang cracking his ribs
I suppose we should not expect it to just slide neatly between
although that may be even more dangerous, there are LUNGS there

"Oh ho! Such blades those are! I saw one once," he explained at Aragorn’s raised eyebrows. "Owned by a man sitting at the table across from me at the Prancing Pony. Where he got it from, I’ve no idea. Likely traded for it somewhere. He was utterly drunk, a real menace, waving it about like that. Nearly stabbed his companion! I was glad when his companion finally told him to put it away before he put out someone’s eye. Wickedly sharp, it was, and with a great heavy knob on the pommel. Nasty thing. That explains your bruises and the broken rib. You’re lucky to still have your lung."
oooh was it the same guy?

He watched Aragorn for a moment, then satisfied that he wasn’t about to topple over, returned his attention to his skillet.
yesss making sure he doesn't topple

Aragorn did not argue nor even reply, but instead quietly conducted his own study of the little hobbit. He had not met many hobbits, for the simple fact that they preferred to stay in their holes and smials and gardens and inns, not often venturing out into the broader world beyond their borders. And his own duty kept him in the shadows. Gandalf had charged him and his Rangers with guarding the Shire, secretly, and so he kept his distance, even when he was in Bree. He knew his wary ways made him an object of suspicion and fear, but so much the better; sometimes it helped to have a nefarious reputation. You don’t want to mess with them Rangers, no sir, he had overheard one of the swampers at the Prancing Pony whisper once to one of the customers. Don’t mess with them Rangers. They’ll carve you up and eat you in the dark of night and leave your bones to rot.
lollll knowing what the Rangers are actually like, but also, sad <:(. And lonely for them, kind souls <:(.

Well and good, but this time, he had been the one carved up, and it galled his pride as much as it pained his body to know he had been such easy prey. His first days back to help his men guard the Shire, after traveling long leagues in a fruitless beginning to his search for Gollum, had not started out very auspiciously.
aww <:( wait is it just this first spring or summer after the beginning of the hunt and he almost died of fever??? he can't catch a break

Not wanting to linger overmuch on thoughts of his own failings, he turned his attention back to the hobbit as he busied himself with his cooking. The only hobbit he remembered ever seeing up close, besides the ones he encountered in Bree, was Bilbo Baggins, in Rivendell way back when he was a ten year old peering through the shrubbery because Elrond had insisted he stay hidden while so many strangers were about.
aww picturing Aragorn looking through bushes <3 cute but also kind of sad but kind of makes sense
did he have to stay hidden when just Bilbo and Gandalf returned, as well? I need to continue the ffn story of Aragorn's sickness during the dwarves' visit. I started it.

So it was both a marvel and a mystery to meet one here in the Wilds. This one was dressed much as Bilbo had been: brown woolen jacket, white shirt, blue vest. Bare, furry feet sticking out from tweedy gray trousers. Curly hair that was not quite blonde, not quite brown. Bright blue eyes that glanced at him occasionally with an uncomplicated mix of friendliness and concern.
awww <3

"Are you feeling all right, sir? I know you must not feel much like talking, but you still look a bit peaked, to my mind. You should probably lay back down."
yesss aw <3
thank you for pointing out

"I am well." At the hobbit’s raised eyebrow, Aragorn amended with a faint smile, "Well enough, that is, considering the circumstances. I meant only that I do not need to lie down, not yet." Aragorn changed the subject from the tiresome topic of his own well-being. "What brings a Shireling so far from home, and so far off the road?"
loll the tiresome topic of his own well-being, buddy really does not like talking about it

"Tookishness, nothing more," Ferdinand answered merrily, as if that explained things.
XD <3 fair, I love him

"Tookishness?"
XD he doesn't know

"Yes, yes, Tookishness. The Tooks have always had a sense of adventure and I daresay the yen to wander did not pass me by. You may have heard of my cousin, Bilbo Baggins. His Tookishness took him on all kinds of adventures."
"Yes, I have heard of him," Aragorn said.
yesss aww he was just thinking of him :)

"Well then." He handed Aragorn a plate heaped high with golden brown sausages and translucent white onions and steaming potatoes with crispy browned edges. Had the hobbit hauled potatoes all the way out into the wilds, Aragorn wondered, then decided he likely had. A hobbit daring to venture out near the Weather Hills was apt to do just about anything. And last Aragorn looked, potato farmers were in short supply out this way.
LOLL well of course he would, he is a hobbit <3

Ferdinand produced a fork from some hidden pocket inside his jacket, then, seeing that lifting his left arm to hold the plate pained Aragorn, helped him situate the plate on his lap. "There. Now you need only lift the fork, and it would be dire indeed if you had not the strength to lift a fork! Eat up, lad, for you lost a lot of blood and the only cure for that is good food and drink and rest, and lots of all three."
awww yess helping him not have to hold the plate

Aragorn smiled his thanks and with a heartfelt glance to the West and a thankful prayer to the Valar for sending him such a sturdy and caring little rescuer, he carefully blew on a bit of potato and then placed it in his mouth. "Good," he said, meaning it with all his heart. He had had to force down his share of foul-tasting, ill-cooked food, mostly prepared by his own hands, but this was a treat.
awwwww yesss
<33 thankful prayer

"Of course it’s good, young man," Ferdinand fussed at him. "I cooked it, didn’t I?"
XD fair, he's used to most hobbits being good cooks

Amused at being called young by a hobbit who appeared half his age, Aragorn smiled. "How old are you, Master Took?"
lollll fair

"I turned fifty-three this past spring. And you?"
Aragorn forked a large bite of sausage into his mouth. "Older than you," he said as he chewed. He had turned seventy-one the past March, and he did not have any desire to explain the reason why his looks contrasted so oddly with his long years. The hobbit may or may not know of the long life of Númenóreans, but if not, Aragorn was too tired to dredge up a history lesson.
hahaha

"You have the looks of one half whatever age you must be." There was a question behind the statement.
:)))

"I get plenty of sleep."
"Sleep! Bah! That has nothing to do with it," Ferdinand Took snorted. "You are Númenórean, one of the Dúnedain–and do not look so surprised I know that word. I know quite a bit of Elvish, you know–or I will eat my hat."
LOL YES :))
sleep, sure
yesss he knows thingsss

Ah, so this Took was educated. Somehow that did not surprise Aragorn. "Save your hat for your head, Master Took, for you are correct."
yessss

"And you and your Rangers have been guarding our lands."
ooh he knows MANY things

Aragorn went still. "How do you know that?"
"Tookishness."
XD okay then

Aragorn waited, and Ferdinand finally let out a laugh. "Don’t glower so. Most hobbits go about completely ignorant of the presence of you and your companions. But most hobbits don’t go about wandering all over like I do. I watch and listen and make my own conclusions. Much like you do, I would imagine."
LOLLL

"And your conclusion is that the Rangers are guarding the Shire."
trying to sound neutral

"Right you are. And right I am, if your reaction is any indication. A reaction that I would also imagine you would not have let be seen if you were feeling a bit more yourself."
Aragorn nodded a bit ruefully. "I confess I am not at my best."
lol yesssss he is a good judge of character/personality, even guessing what Aragorn's usually like
very shrewd

"Why do you watch over our land so closely? It seems of late that I can’t take a step off the road without tripping over a Dúnadan."
lol fair, considering he just did nearly that

Because if we do not, Sauron or his minions will come blasting through here to get his ring and then go on to destroy the entire world. But Aragorn could hardly say that, having been sworn to secrecy by Gandalf, so he merely gave Ferdinand an apologetic smile. "I fear I cannot say, only that we are following the wishes of someone who has good reason to be concerned."
mmm

"Now who might that be? Not many of the Big Folk take much notice of the goings on in the Shire."
"A friend," Aragorn said. Not liking the direction of the conversation, and lacking the energy to continue acting the enigmatic – Gandalf was far more skilled at that than he
LOL Gandalf is indeed good at that

– Aragorn put his half-eaten meal aside and let his eyelids droop. It hardly took much playacting, for he did feel desperately weary. "I must apologize, Master Ferdinand, but a longing for sleep is about to gain the upper hand."
yessss not so much pretending as taking advantage of feelings already there

Ferdinand was instantly all concern and solicitude, and Aragorn felt slightly guilty at letting the hobbit think he was feeling worse than he really was. Still, as Ferdinand helped lower him to the ground and spread Aragorn’s cloak across him, he had to admit that it felt very good to lay down.
awww yes
yeah I don't think you're actually feeling much, if any, better than he thinks XD even Rangers and Elves consistently underestimate your pain or sickness, so strongly do you bear it.

"There, there, my boy," Ferdinand said as he tucked the cloak up under his chin. "You sleep now, and how’s this for turnabout – the hobbit will guard the Dúnadan!" He laughed merrily, and Aragorn drifted to sleep on the joyful sound.
AWWW
he'll guard the Dunadain for a change :))) I love how amused he is by this, full well knowing the usual straits, but also full willing <3

hebeidReviewed Chapter: 13 on 10/30/2019
I remember reading part of this story, probably a few (or several?) years ago, bit for whatever reason I never finished it. So what a delight it was to get to read it all the way through! My love for your writing hasn't faded in the slightest, and it likely never will; I am so lucky to have come across this archive all those years ago, and so relieved that it is still here and holding all these treasured memories. I'm probably going to re/read all of your stuff in the near (ish) future - it's fall, and fall is a Rangerly time of year, I find. Thank you so much for sharing your skill and your hard work time and time again, and I hope that wherever you are now, whatever you're doing with your days, you are happy and safe and contented and cared for.


Author Reply: Thank you so much! I'm glad you rediscovered this one and finished it... it's actually one of my favorites, because I got to write a hobbit character, something I haven't done much.

I'm doing well--haven't written LOTR fic in a long time, having switched over to Captain America fandom, but I still harbor hopes to return to LOTR fic when the muse reawakens one day (I'm hoping that the new Amazon series helps ignite the fandom, even if it won't probably include much about the Dunedain or Aragorn).

Happy reading and thank you again for your kind words!

MP brennanReviewed Chapter: 13 on 1/13/2013
Just dropping by to mention how much I enjoyed this fic. Ferdinand is a delightful OC. He's just the right balance of Tookish and hobbity if that makes any sense. :) I loved the little details like him carrying eggs around out in the wild so he could have Second Breakfast. And his tangents are wonderful.

As usual, the dynamic between the rangers was great. I liked Denlad and Halbarad's partnership--especially the way it's implied at the beginning that Denlad knows how to play Halbarad to get what he wants. At the same time, they balance each other really well. I liked how you showed them having to lean on each other to get through it all.

This, though, was my favorite exchange:

"And here I thought you regularly get yourself maimed simply to torment me."

"That is part of the appeal, yes. Every dark cloud must have its bit of mithril lining, after all."

"You will make a truly detestable king."

Aragorn grinned. "Thank you. May I have some more of that stew?"

Please don't ever stop writing those two!

Author Reply: Thank you, MP! I'm so glad you enjoyed this. I still wonder how Ferdinand manages to carry eggs without breaking them, but leave it to a Hobbit to figure it out. *g* I do hope to continue writing Aragorn and Halbarad... I enjoy their friendship/kinship far too much to ever stop, I think!

lisagReviewed Chapter: 12 on 5/6/2010
Just re-read this story...great stuff. I wanted to add another post because the end of the last chapter always makes me wonder what would happen if Aragorn visited Bree after becoming King and Butterbur finally realized who he had been insulting all these years! I would love to see the man bowing and scraping, which I'm sure Aragorn would tell him wasn't necessary. I just don't like that Butterbur treats all the Rangers with such disdain when they've never done anything destructive or rude or improper in his inn. That would sure put a dent in his inn's AAA rating! ;)

Author Reply: Thanks for the re-read! I'm glad you like it well enough to give it another go. :)

And yes, I imagine Butterbur and so many of the residents around Bree and Archet and the Shire in general, would have had quite a shock when Aragorn returns. Despite how cranky I have him in this story, I don't see Butterbur as being entirely cold toward Rangers. He's simply had a run of bad customers and as the Rangers are quiet and mysterious and a little scary, he lumps them in with the bad eggs and Aragorn bore the brunt of that particular burst of frustrated anger (maybe knowing that, because the Rangers do tend to be polite, that he can vent his spleen without fear of getting punched in the nose!). And too, I think in my tale, which is set quite some years before he helps Aragorn with the Hobbits in FOTR, he's probably a bit more prejudiced against Rangers. Perhaps he mellows a bit with the years, gaining some measure of tolerance and understanding--enough that he does end up helping out in the end and shows himself not to be all that bad (AAA rating intact! *g*). I like to think so, anyway.

LisaGReviewed Chapter: 13 on 2/2/2010
Spectacular story! Full of peril, angst, comfort, humor, bravery, courage, friendship, caring and love. Don't get any better than that!

Author Reply: Thank you, Lisa! I can see you're working through all my stories. *g* I'm so glad you enjoyed this one... it was so fun to write (they're all fun, really, but this one didn't have too many glitches I had to sort out). I try to put elements of all those things in my stories, to keep them as well-rounded as I can, so I appreciate your mention of them. :) Thanks for the review!

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