Lord of the Rings add-in

A bird - or something flying anyway - flew through the open door and struck Goldberry, then landed in the open fire, spilling hot coals on to her dress, and setting it aflame more quickly than any could have imagined.

Olly grabbed the burning coals and tossed them quickly back into the fire - one, two, three of them! - and swatted the flames into ash, before even Goldberry herself could move away from them. A second later he realised what he had done, and looked down and saw his scarred hands.

Even Tom himself looked at Olly in sudden silence, as the other hobbits stood with their mouths open in astonishment at Olly's speed.

"Well now!" cried Tom, "What is such a bird doing a-flying into my fire, and where could he be now, but up the chimney and away back to his nest?"

Tom then took Olly's hand, and Olly felt a strength in it that he had not expected. "You have saved one that I love from a harm, swiftly and well, without thought to the harm you might take.

"Fire-fighter, then, I name you! And may there be more of you, for Tom sees a day to come when we will have need!"

"Come now then and take a gift from Tom, as a thank-you and as more - for you may yet need more Power than you have, though your will and strength be plenty, if Tom is any judge."

And he held Olly's blistered hands in his own, and sang.

"A time may soon come,

When all this is done,

When fire that burns

Bring all this to ruin.

But action direct,

And a will to protect,

May save us all yet

If we all share our Power.

And as Tom sang the words, Olly felt the others fade, as if he were waking from a dream and was forgetting the part they had played in it.

He opened his mouth as if to object, but Tom said quietly, "Worry not, young Master Emmitt, for Old Tom has Power to spare, though he has not your swiftness and will to use it. Take this Power to lend, for Tom sees that you will use it well, and then will Tom's time be done, and he will be content."

Olly felt a clear white light inside him, and for a while afterward, he could not recall why he had felt it rather than see it; and then as he looked down at his healed hands, he could not recall it at all.


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